Thursday, March 31, 2011

Why am I calling this a cherry folditup, and not a cherry galette, its correct culinary name? Because one sounds like something that's easy to make, and one doesn't.

You may think it's silly to dumb-down the name just so a few more people watching on YouTube will give it a try, but it's very important to me that these recipes are accessible to as many people as possible. Oh, and by the way, did I mention you need to buy a $18 jar of cherries to make it?

So much for that whole accessibility angle. Yes, I did use the world's most exclusive jarred cherries. Luxardo make's what they claim are the original Maraschino cherries. The deep, dark fruit is candied in Marasca cherry syrup, and I find the taste and texture totally irresistible.

And no, I didn't hit the lottery; I had these on hand because of some recipe testing I was doing for a client, and I couldn't think of any finer way to use them up. If things are going well, here's the Amazon link is case you want to try Luxardo cherries for yourself. However, as I say in the video, any cherry or other fruit pie filling will work beautifully.

As far as the crust goes, we have a couple of surprises for you. I decided to use whole wheat flour, as I wanted a dough that was a little nuttier and rougher around the edges, and this did the trick. I also used some orange vodka I had in the freezer for part of the liquid in the dough.

I'd seen Alton brown do this, and apparently the vodka adds moisture, but doesn't create gluten, and somehow that makes a tender, flakier crust, or something like that. I can’t be bothered to do any more research, but I can say it made one hell of a crust.

Of course, if anyone want to go all food nerd on us and explain what's going on molecularly, I think we'd all pretend to be interested. Enjoy!

Update! I call for whole wheat flour for this, but want to let you know I used the oxymoronically-named King Arthur Unbleached White Whole Wheat Flour. It's a very light wheat flour, and can probably be simulated by using 1/2 regular wheat flour and white flour.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Today for lunch, Michele fried some sweet Italian sausage and served them on toasted, garlic-rubbed bread. Next to it was an ordinary green salad, made extraordinary with her kumquat and blood orange dressing. It was a perfect early spring lunch.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Beef Stroganoff is one of my favorite recipes of all time, but not the classic Russian version, which had neither mushrooms nor onions, and was served over rice or fried potatoes.

No, I prefer this this Americanized rendition that gets to sit on a pile of wide buttered egg noodles. There’s something about the rich, creamy, tender beef wrapped inside those fat ribbons of pasta that really does it for me.

Speaking of tender beef, this isn’t the quick-seared beef tenderloin filet you often see used in restaurants. That version is nice once in a while, but I prefer this slower, beefier recipe, which uses a much less expensive beef chuck roast. That’s right, more money for vodka!

One big reason I love beef Stroganoff so much is the sauce that features a substantial amount of sour cream. Of course, that’s great news when you have access to the world’s finest homemade sour cream supply, as demonstrated in the recent creme fraiche video.

This is a fairly lean version, as most similar recipes call for more cream to create a larger volume of sauce. This is something you can easily adjust to your tastes. I like a little thicker version, with just enough sauce to coat the meat and noodles.

Remember, the great thing about creme fraiche is you can cook it to reduce and thicken the sauce if need be. So, start a batch of creme fraiche soon, and you’ll have 2 days to plan the rest of beef Stroganoff dinner. Prijatnovo appetita!

Friday, March 25, 2011

Crème fraiche is French for "fresh cream," which makes it one of the most ironically named foods ever, since it's made by leaving cream out in a warm spot until it’s soured and thickened by a growing colony of bacteria. Yeah, fresh.

Regardless, making crème fraiche is very easy and as the title implies, once you taste the magic of homemade sour cream, you'll have a hard time not repeating this somewhat esoteric exercise. Sure it takes a couple days, but the effort is minimal for such a marvelous payoff.

As I mention in the video, besides the amazing taste and luxurious texture, maybe the best thing about crème fraiche is its ability to be cooked. Because of it's composition and fat content, it doesn’t curdle and separate when you heat it like sour cream.

This makes it an incredibly versatile addition to countless recipes. I can't think of many pan sauces that don’t benefit from a spoon or two. Yesterday on this blog, you saw it stirred into fried rice. Next week, you'll see it turn an ordinary pan of braised beef into a world-class Stroganoff. I could go on and on, and for SEO purposes I probably should, but you get the idea.

As long as your jars and utensils are very clean, preferably sterilized, there isn’t a lot that can go wrong. Be sure to get your hands on the best, freshest cream you can find. In the supermarket you'll want to look for "pasteurized," not "ultra-pasteurized" heavy whipping cream. Also, be sure to use cultured buttermilk otherwise you’re going to be waiting a full day to see nothing happen.

By the way, I'm extremely proud of this video recipe and blog post, but not for the usual reasons. It's because I didn’t make one single Randy Marsh joke! You South Park fans know what I'm talking about, and those of you that don’t should really check out this crème fraiche-themed episode. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream

3 tablespoons cultured buttermilk

Mix together and leave in a warm spot (about 70-75 degrees F.) for 24 hours, or until thick. Refrigerate for 24 hours before using. Should last a week or two.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

This is not a tease for an upcoming fried rice video. As magnificent a meal as it was, this was simply the result of using up some leftover Thai takeout. However, this is a little tease for an upcoming crème fraiche video. A chef I used to work for would mix sour cream and herbs into leftover rice pilaf, and bake it in a casserole to create a new side dish. I believe that's what possessed me to add the dollop at the end. Enjoy and stay tuned!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

This pickled grilled vegetables technique was my favorite new discovery on the Kingsford University trip. It's quite a simple, and seemingly obvious trick, yet it never occurred to me. It's times like these when I'm faced with the tragic realization that I'm not as smart and creative as I think I am.

Basically, small pickling cucumbers (which I've always called, "pickles," even if they aren’t pickled yet, just to be confusing), as well as other firm vegetables, are seared briefly over very hot charcoal, before being packed in the sweet and sour pickling liquid.

The grilling imparts a subtle smokiness, as well as a little extra sweetness from the caramelization of the vegetables. I can see these being a regular fixture on the picnic table during the upcoming grilling season. What a perfect compliment to a platter of barbecued pork, or grilled chicken.

These tasted great after just one day, and even better after three. Please don't ask me how long they will last in the fridge, as I believe they should be eaten before that would become any kind of issue. I hope you give it a try, and be sure to tell me all the fabulous ways you flavored your pickling liquid. Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Some leftover barbecued pork belly from Sneaky's Barbecue was crisped-up in it's own smoky fat. The thin, red Carolina-style pepper sauce was drizzled around, and then two eggs were cooked to just-set in the sizzling pool. A perfect breakfast-for-lunch experience.

Well, the rain finally broke and I was able to dust off the old grill and film the pickled grilled pickles video I teased after the Kingsford University trip. To the right of those you'll see a jar of homemade Crème Fraîche, inspired by comments on our handmade butter post. Stay tuned!

Monday, March 21, 2011

This light and spicy tomato crab bisque is one of my all-time favorite "need something gourmet at the last minute" emergency recipes. It's easy to shop for, requires very little effort, and only takes about 10 to 15 minutes to pull off. Of course, none of that would matter if it didn’t taste any good, but that's really not a problem here.

Besides its ability to impersonate a special occasion soup, this crab bisque also tastes fantastic…if you use a decent, preferably all natural brand of soup. There are lots of choices, especially if you are shopping at stores like Whole Foods or Trader Joes.

The green onion and Old Bay butter sizzle at the beginning is the only real work, but it's two-minutes very well spent. By the way, this isn't a thick style bisque, so if you do want something sturdier, then add an extra spoon of butter and 2 spoons of flour to the green onion step (be sure to cook out the raw taste of the flour).

For the crab, you could use canned in a pinch, but most of the larger grocery store chains (the ones with the good soup) will carry 8-oz tubs of lump crabmeat, and it really is worth the extra cash.

After the crab, and a healthy does of cayenne, the only other decision is whether you use cream. It is technically optional, but highly recommended, and as you'll see, I like it swirled on top. You can also stir it in with the crab and save a step, but you'll miss out on the, "random fractal of butter fatty goodness," I mention in the video. Enjoy!

Friday, March 18, 2011

Apparently the official National Corned Beef Hash Day is celebrated on September 27, which is as arbitrary as it is ridiculous. Everyone knows the real National Corned Beef Hash Day follows St. Patrick's Day.

If you have some leftover corned beef, you should seriously consider making the hash recipe below. There really isn’t anything like a plate of crusty corned beef hash. Topped with a perfectly poached egg, it's not only a classic breakfast (and proven hangover cure), but makes for one hell of a dinner. To read the original post, and get all the ingredients amounts, click here. Enjoy!

The problem was I have the world's ugliest food processor. It's chipped, yellowed from age, and simply not a good look. But it still works fine, so I'm not able to make myself throw it away and get another. Then I thought about doing a real homemade butter video; a true handmade version, without using any machinery whatsoever, save for the finely sculpted apparatus that is my arm.

Besides not having to show my lame processor, I would also have the opportunity to do some Shake Weight jokes (among others); talk about a win win! Anyway, as you'll see, this technique worked wonderfully and really was a lot of fun.

It tasted exactly like good supermarket butter. Of course, since it takes a lot more effort to do, and probably costs more to make than buy, you're probably wondering why bother?

That's a great question, and one I really hope you don't ask yourself before giving this a try. By the way, if you are a regular butter maker, please feel free to share any tips and tricks you may have. Enjoy!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

I can’t believe tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day! Seems like just yesterday I was shoveling snow at my mother's house. Anyway, it's too late to do any new Irish-inspired recipes, so I'll do the next best thing and post links to these three delicious videos (click on the recipe captions, and away you go).

By the way, any Irish drinking jokes you may hear in these clips were only meant to offend my Irish friends and family members, and not the general Irish-American community. Having said that, most of them will be too drunk to care tomorrow, so I guess it really doesn’t matter. Erin go Bragh!

This super easy white bean dip is perfect for those occasions when you have a few friends coming over and want to make a tasty snack or appetizer that's not going to take a lot of time, or break the bank.

I also like this recipe because it's not hummus. Don't get me wrong, I love hummus, but you have to admit, it's a little overused. If you took a picture of 100 snack tables at 100 random parties, I bet 75 of them would show a bowl of hummus.

This white bean dip recipe is part of a series of eight snack videos I did for Kellogg's Snackpicks.com. When you click on the video player below, you'll be taken to their fine site to view the video, and if you want, get the written recipe.

If you have questions or comments, please come on back and post them here. Thanks, and enjoy!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

My good friend, Darya Pino, who publishes the blog Summer Tomato has just launched a live, interactive nutrition class called "Summer Tomato Live." This episodic online classroom will focus on discussing a variety of reader-selected food and health topics.

You'll have the chance to ask questions and get answers from Darya in real time. I almost never recommend or promote things here that actually cost money, but knowing all that Darya has to offer, I think that the $3.99 per month subscription fee is a great deal.

While I don’t use as much of Darya's advice as I probably should, I really enjoy her blog, as well as her delivery. It's not the typical sanctimonious blather you get on some healthy-lifestyle websites.

Monday, March 14, 2011

This fast and easy creamy tomato tuna penne pasta recipe is inspired by one of my favorite lunches of all time; the tuna melt with cup of creamy tomato soup combo. Not only is this diner classic a great tasting meal, it's also the basis for what I call, "The Tuna Melt Defense."

Whenever I hear chefs (usually young American ones, trained in Italy) say that you may NEVER add cheese to a pasta that contains fish or seafood, I'm forced to use this argument to defend my firm belief that sometimes it's okay to do just that.

Who can argue against the deliciousness of the perfectly made tuna melt? I don't know anyone that loves both cheese and tuna separately that doesn't enjoy this classic grilled sandwich. Throw in a cup of tomato soup and you're talking about one of the best lunches ever.

So, if this combination is culinarily acceptable at Joe's Diner (by the way, this is the same diner those chefs I was talking about in the 2nd paragraph go to eat tuna melts after a late night out), then why in the world can’t we enjoy the same basic flavor profile in a bowl of pasta? I rest my case. Enjoy!

Last weekend, Michele and I were invited to participate in the 2011 Kingsford University, a NASCAR-themed barbecue and grilling event, held in everyone's favorite adult cartoon of a city, Las Vegas, Nevada. What follows is a photo recap of the trip's highlights. I don't do multipart event posts, so this is a little long, but I promise it will be a quick read. Enjoy!

The first night featured a welcome dinner at Tom Colicchio's Craftsteak. The festivities began with a cocktail hour where we got to meet and greet our fellow attendees. While saddened more former classmates from the fabulous Healdsburg event in 2009 weren't there, we were thrilled a few were, including good pals (and a couple of my favorite food bloggers), Brooke from Food Woolf (right) and Tamar from Starving Off the Land. While the steak tartare appetizer was a special treat, it couldn't compare to catching up with these two!

I'm a huge fan of Top Chef, which means I'm a huge Tom Colicchio fan, but I'd never had the opportunity to dine at one of his restaurants. It was worth the wait. We enjoyed a great steak dinner. The meat was American Kobe from Snake River Farms, and it was some of the finest beef I've ever had.

All the food at Craftsteak is served family-style, and besides an array of fantastic side dishes, like a perfectly dressed shaved fennel salad and pomme puree (I estimate 40% of this was butter), there were heavy copper pans filled with a trio of Waygu beef. We enjoyed tenderloin filet, flatiron steak, and the crowd favorite, and incredibly juicy and flavorful skirt steak.

Normally a pan of wild salmon this lovely and delicious would have been the talk of the table, but such was the staggering quality of the beef that it was barely noticed, and only picked at out of respect for the cooks who has so expertly prepared it.

A beautiful assortment of desserts followed, but due to all the bourbon and red meat I'd absorbed, I decided to pass on everything except a small piece of monkey bread that just happened to stick to my fork. Sooner rather than later there will be a monkey bread video posted on this blog. It was a great dinner and made for a fine start to the weekend.

The next morning we bused out to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for what would turn out to be a full day of grilling, chilling, drinking, eating, and a surprisingly significant amount of learning. I don't pretend to attend these types of food and wine events for any other reason than the food and the wine, and while there are usually all manner of lectures and demos interspersed between bites and sips, it's often things I've seen and/or done before.

This was different. For me this Kingsford University was truly a place of learning. Our "classroom" was a white tent staked out in front of rows of shiny, black kettle grills, next to a barbecue rig so mechanically advanced and tricked-out that it rivaled the thousands of customized RV's which surrounded us. We're talking state of the art grill/smoker with Bose speakers and an HD television.

Our lead instructor and master of ceremonies was legendary pitmaster, Chris Lilly from Big Bob Gibson's BBQ. As far as I'm concerned, Lilly is "the man" when it comes to barbecue chefs in America. A natural born teacher, who's perfected the art of smoky, slow-cooked meat. While his food is rooted in classic, time-tested techniques, he's still able to somehow work in some interesting twists.

Chris demonstrated how he does his award winning barbecued beef brisket. Unlike the forgiving pork shoulder, which even a lucky novice make halfway decent as long as they stay relatively sober, a beef brisket will expose a fraud faster than a pair of cheap cowboy boots.

First, the brisket is given a wet rub with beef base, before the dry rub is applied. I had never seen this before, and not only does it help create an amazing crust or "bark," but the pan juices benefit mightily as well.

After the wet and dry rub, into the smoker it goes, which is kept at between 225-240 degrees. After about 4 hours, or when the internal temperature of the brisket reaches 170 degrees, it's removed, wrapped tightly with aluminum foil, and returned to the smoker. There it stays until it reaches an internal temp of 190 degrees.

After resting for a minimum of 30 minutes, someone with a sharp knife (and cold beer) slices it against the grain into thick slabs. It's served as is, or with the intensely beefy drippings drizzled over the top. Here, however, those juices were actually saved to go over the potatoes. It was as good as it looked.

The next demo was by Chef Alan Turner, from Snake River Farms. He gave a very entertaining class on some of the alternative cuts of beef. One of the most interesting part of his presentation was on something called a Manhattan Filet.

As the size of American cattle has increased in proportion to the waistlines of it's intended market, the classic New York strip steak has simply become too big. The ideal thickness of a steak is about 1 1/2-inches. This allows time for that desirable charred crust to form before the inside gets past a perfect pink. The problem is that to cut these modern strip loins into steaks that thickness, they are just too big for a normal diner to eat.

Chef Alan showed us a brilliant solution to this too-much-of-a-good-thing issue. He splits the strip loin lengthwise to form what looks like two large tenderloins. These pieces are then cut into beautifully thick medallions and sold as "Manhattan Filets." I love everything about this new steak shape breakthrough.

The other thing I loved about Chef Alan's demo is that every time he finished talking about a cut, he tossed it on the grill and we got to eat it. Well played, Sir. By the way, kudos to the fine people at Snake River Farms, who by all accounts run one of the most responsible and sustainable cattle and hog operations in the land.

Next we got to see Chef Stephen from the National Pork Board butcher half a hog. He was very knowledgeable, but in all fairness he did have a pork meat chart "cheat sheet" tattooed on his arm. I've seen this done before, but Stephan focused on many unusual cuts of pork not commonly seen in the super markets. One trend you will hopefully be seeing soon is a big increase in the variety of choices in that particular part of the meat case.

Things like pork brisket, which we got to sample after a quick sear on the grill, and various steaks cut from the shoulder and sirloin. They don’t call it "the other white meat" anymore, but maybe they should call it "the other lean meat." As the chef pointed out, many of the leaner cuts of pork, like the tenderloin, have the same fat as a chicken breast.

I will pass on one great brining tip he shared with us. He recommends brining the leaner cuts of pork using the following formula: 1 cup each of salt and sugar dissolved in a gallon of water (plus whatever spices and flavorings you like). Then brine the pork for 30 minutes per inch thickness of the cut you are using. For example, a 2-inch think double-cut pork chop would soak for 1 hour before heading to the grill. I believe I will be testing this method for accuracy many times this summer.

Our Kingsford University weekend ended with a day at the races for the Kobalt Tools 400. This portion of the program had nothing to do with food or grilling, so I don't have much to report other than to say, if you like watching cars drive around in a circle for a few hours, and/or have a fetish for corporate branding, then this is as close to heaven as you'll ever get. While I'm no motor head, I do enjoy a quality mullet as much as the next blogger, and it was fascinating getting a glimpse into this great American subculture.

A huge thanks to Kingsford Charcoal for hosting us so generously on this trip. Thanks to Chris Lilly, Snake River Farms, the National Pork Board, and everyone else involved for such a delicious and educational weekend!